This book helps get the sanity back into your life! There are things in the book (as far as discipline) that I personally did not institute - but it is the overall philosophy that punishment should be immediate, swift, and severe enough that the child would rather obey than get the punishment. There are consistently applied rules that are laid out that the parents and the kids follow - there are no more emotional melt-down by the parents when they finally "blow a gasket" because the "Timmy - take a time-out" doesn't work with their kid.

There are so many people that say that this book advocates child abuse - that is SO wrong - it advocates rules, boundaries, and actual consequences.

I have two very strong-willed boys. My eldest would actually tell his teachers at school that we didn't feed him breakfast so he could get cereal there too. He figured out there was "nothing" we could do to get him to complete his homework, etc. Then we started looking at ourselves - what are we doing that is making him think that this is okay?

After consideration - we found that we would under-react at certain times, by giving easy punishments that would not affect our daily routines, forget to enforce them, or after a month get so mad that we would over punish. We were being lazy. After reading this book and putting the philosophies to work did we finally see a change in attitude and behavior from him.

The next school year, my son said "Mom, I'm doing my homework this year, because I figured out that I spent 4 months grounded last school year and it wasn't very fun" - Truth was - it wasn't very fun for any of us - but now he does his homework before he plays, he brings his school work home, and he gets it turned in on-time. If he doesn't - we have a chart - for every expectation there is a consequence if it is not followed. Didn't turn in your homework? You are grounded for two days after the homework is completed and turned into the teacher (they still have to do the work, but they get punished too).

You the parent need to take the active adult rule and run your household - a child who is in the position to run the house is not emotionally equipped to handle that and behaves poorly. My kids don't hate me because I make them follow rules, they love me because I care enough that they turn into good people - which is what I believe the basis of this book is trying to teach.

FYI, some of these reviewers have not even read this book, let alone have tried the methods or philosophy. There is a link from a website that opposes all forms of corporal punishment. The site provides quotes taken out of context and interpreted for the reader, then they request you provide a negative review on a book you have not really read. This is the basis for a number of the negative reviews here and at Barnes and Noble. I linked from the site. I have NOT read this book, but I have read others that they bash, and can attest that much of the information given was misrepresented.

I think this book was actually better than the first one. It has really helped my situation. We have an unruly and stubborn child and now she is getting over that stage.

Any book that encourages child abuse is not Christian. People who have responded favorably to this book may have been looking for something that agreed with their already held convictions, or maybe they have scared their child into obeying because they are bigger and stronger and thus feel they have found something helpful. There are many good books on strong-willed children that are helpful in learning how to parent them. This is not one. He is selling books today because he was recognized years ago with writing a decent book on parenting. There has been some tremendous change. I would recommend parents NOT read this book. There are other ways of disciplining children that are not humiliating, violent and abusive. If you are Christian, would Jesus have dealth with children in this way?

I found a lot of helpful info in this book, and after implementing some of his strategies noticed an immediate improvement in my 2 1/2year old. However I felt that of I had been true to the style reccommended by Dr. Dobson, I would be too harsh. He says "discipline with love", but he spends all his time focusing on the discipline part and not enough time talking about how parents should encourage and just love love love on their kids. He doesn't tell HOW to do that, and the truth is that some people just don't know how to do that. In my opinion, love is the single most important thing in a child's life. I believe in firm discipline, but if not coupled with the needed amount of love and praise, the child may grow into a well behaved but insecure adult. My advice is, read this book if you already have a good grip on your beliefs in regards to discipline, and apply his meathod as you see fit.